¹ú²úAV

The Tribunal chose to proceed by way of a judgment on receivability as it is competent to raise the issue of jurisdiction sua sponte. The Tribunal recalled that under art. 8.1(c) and 8.1(d)(i) of the Tribunal’s Statute, a substantive application is receivable if the contested decision has been submitted for management evaluation and the application is filed within 90 calendar days of the applicant’s receipt of the response by management to his or her submission or within 90 calendar days of the expiry of the relevant response period for the management evaluation if no response to the request was provided. The Tribunal noted that the Applicant requested management evaluation of the impugned decision only three days prior to the filing of his application. He had not yet received a response to his request for management evaluation and the time limit for completing such evaluation had not yet expired. In the circumstances, the Tribunal found that his substantive application, filed on 30 October 2019, was premature. However, the Tribunal clarified that the Applicant may, if he still wished to contest the matter, file an application within 90 calendar days of receipt of the response by management to his request for management evaluation or within 90 calendar days of the expiry of the response period for the management evaluation if no response to the request is provided. Should the Applicant be inclined to submit a fresh application it will be considered on its merits and without prejudice to the contents of the current application.